Where There Is Hope
by xXxAngelDestined2FallxXx
Summary: Edward never returned in New Moon. Now, 2 years later, an alien race has taken over the earth with the intent to wipe out all life by taking over bodies and bringing a fast spreading disease. Bella and her team are ther only hopes earth has left. Then on day she bumps into the Cullens. Will she take Edward back? And do they stand a chance against the aliens? Better than it sounds..
1. Chapter 1

Edward's POV

I sighed as we approached the remains of Forks High School. It's been over 2 years since I'd been here. It was one of the best schools I'd ever attended…for obvious reasons.  
And now…its rubble.

The alien apocalypse started a year ago, and humans, as well as vampires, have been hanging onto existence by a thread. Most of us are extinct. Most of the humans as well.  
But the only human I worry about is the same one I left without a thought, a decision I regret with all my dead, un-beating heart.

Bella.

I had looked for her at first. Searched the globe. But eventually even my family had to assume that she had either been taken over or died. It killed me. It still does. It always will.

Now, with all hope lost, we just wander the earth along with any other of out kind, avoiding the aliens that destroyed this planet.  
I remember a time when I still had hope. Hope that we might be able to rise above the aliens. Hope that this planet will still be saved. Hope that my Bella is still out there somewhere…

I shook my head. These were the hopes I gave up on a long time ago. Hope leads to disappointment. And any more of that just might kill me.

"Edward?" I heard Alice call from behind me. I turned around. "Let's go," she said. "We need to find a place to stay for a while."

I nodded. I turned back to the ruins of what was the best school I'd ever attended and sighed. It will be a miracle if our old house was still standing. After a while everything just collapses. Everything gives in at some point.  
I mean sure, they put up a fight for a while, but hope doesn't last very long anymore.  
And that goes for everyone. Even us. Vampires were supposed to be the last hope for humans. After the Volturi believed that exposing what we are to humans was the last hope, humans believed that we were the ones that could bring earth back from the grave.  
And we tried. We really did. But they were too strong. For us, for the army, for nuclear bombs…everything we tried failed. Giving up was the only option. At least it seemed that way.

They call themselves the Yulubra, the aliens, and they live off other species. That's how they defeated us. By taking over our bodies. First the humans, then they adapted to Vampires. The werewolves were the only race that they couldn't take over, strangely enough. But nobody knows what happened to them.  
We all speculated. Some of them are a part of the Ulbra's guard. The Ulbra's the head of the aliens. The one in charge. The werewolves almost acted as guard dogs, the ones who gave in.

The others? Who knows? We speculate and make assumptions. Maybe they ran off to a part of the world nobody knows about? Maybe they were seen as a weakness and killed off using other methods? Maybe they all scattered, and died off unable to feed or breed?  
Those were some of the more common assumptions.  
But as I say, we can only assume.

"Edward!" Alice yelled.

I nodded and started walking back to where they were all standing waiting for me. Carlisle was the first to pick up the sadness in my eyes and it didn't take long for him to figure out where it came from.

"I wish she were here too, son," he said placing his hand on my shoulder.

I didn't respond. All I did was start running towards our old house and I heard the quick footsteps of my family not far behind me.

Bella's POV

"Did we have to come back to this broken down place?" I asked looking out at the empty street in Forks. Filled with empty houses. Empty, empty, empty.

That was how life is now.  
Since the invasion, life just seems empty. The few of us left don't know how to spend it, besides planning a counter attack on the aliens.  
But we haven't given up hope…Well, most of us anyway.

Hope that someday, somehow, we'll get this planet back. Hope that the few of us remaining might be strong enough…  
Hope that _he_ is still out there somewhere. Safe…

I sighed, thinking back to the times we spent together. Me and Edward. It seems like a lifetime ago, even though it's just been a couple of years. But what's happened in the past two years I wouldn't have expected in a lifetime.

It doesn't hurt to think of it anymore. I've been through and seen far too much to let that bother me. And after Charlie got taken over I had to tough up.  
I sighed.  
My father was a sensitive subject. I didn't even like to think about it…

"Everywhere you go is broken down these days," Angie said, jumping onto a nearby rock to examine the area.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my favorite gun. This was the only way to kill them. A bullet to the head. "Look alive people," I said. "You never know if there might be any Yuck's around."

I looked around at my team. My family.

Angie, who just turned sixteen, jumped down from the rock and reached into her back-pack for a pistol. Chris and Andrew, both about seventeen, shifted apart, giving room for space. Emma and Emily, twins and the youngest at fourteen, each pulled out a pocketknife and stood closer together. Kyle, almost twenty years old, moved closer to me.  
I was now nineteen and sort of a leader to our little army. Sure, Kyle's older, but he's a little childish…in a cute way, yeah, but not when it comes to missions.  
Like checking out an old town for Yuck's.

Yuck's is the name we came up with for the Yulubra. The aliens. Mainly because they're not very pleasant to look at. At all.

Not that we've seen much of them. They take over human forms. The only way to recognize them was the bright green rings inside they're eyes.

We walked slowly through the town until Angie stopped. Of all of us, she seemed to be the least reluctant to speak her mind. That could be your mightiest strength…or your greatest weakness.

"Okay," she groaned, placing her gun in her pocket. "This place is abandoned. Good a place as any to set up camp."

Everyone seemed to thaw out at that moment, as if that was the final judgment. Then they caught one look at my face and straightened up again, remembering who was in charge.  
I took a deep breath and put my gun into my combat boot.

"No," I said, turning to face them. "No, I know this place not far from here," I started looking at each of them, remembering the glorious house the Cullens used to stay in. "It's secluded. Safe. Out of the town. We should stay there while we're here. It's located through the woods."

"Okay," Emma said, stepping forward.

"Wait," I snapped, grabbing her shoulder and pulling her back. "Not now. The sun is about to set and I don't think it would be the best idea for us to be strolling through the forest at night. For obvious reasons."

She nodded along with the rest of them and stepped back into the crowd. I took a tired breath.

"Let's stay out in the open for tonight. No setting up tents. That way if there's an emergency we can pack up and leave quickly, without any hassle." I looked around at them and waited for one of them to argue my logic. No-one did.

I nodded and dropped my sachel. I sighed and watched the others make plans.

"Isabel," Emma said, walking up to me. That's what I told them to call me. I had to mature, and so did my name. "We're running low on food sources. We have enough for tonight, but tomorrow we'll have to go hunting and scavenging for more."

I nodded and sat down a nearby rock. "Get a fire going," I said. "Time to rest and regain some strength. God knows we'll need it for when we take down the Yulubra."

She nodded and ran away. I shook my head, watching my team get on with business. We'd all been through too much. Emma and Emily especially. It hurt me to know that they were so young. The things they have seen…things we'd all seen…I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

I thought about the twins. They were only twelve when the invasion started. They grew up in an orphanage. They had to watch all their friends get taken over while they hid in as closet. That's where Angie found them a day later while she was looking for food.

Angie was fourteen and had to watch her two siblings get infected. She watched her mother shoot her brother in the head, before her sister bit her. It's like a disease. Once bitten by one of them, you become infected. Like a zombie. Your body becomes an empty vessel until another one of them comes around to take over what's left of you.

There are some who are out there that have been infected but not yet taken over. They move in packs, feeding off the souls of others, spreading the disease. But eventually even they get taken over. It's a sad never-ending cycle. They wont stop until everyone is taken over.  
Legend has it that there is a cure. A way to reverse what has happened. To remove the aliens from humans and other creatures and bring them back to life.  
That's what my team is for. We're one of the few teams out there who want to help the earth. The fight to freedom.

I looked at Chris and Andrew. They were best friends and neighbors. When war broke out they ran away together. Hid away until they were found by Kyle.

Kyle, who, as a teenager, ran away from home. I feel bad for him. He never even got a chance to see his parents one last time. He doesn't even know where they are now.

With me it's a different story. At least I know my parents are dead. Emma and Emily never knew theirs. Angie shot her mother in the head, therefore she knows she's dead.  
We all have closure.

But Kyle? He has nothing. Just hope.

I mean, that's what we all have left. The only thing we have left. Hope. Hope for the future. We wouldn't be doing all this if we didn't have hope.

I sighed and watched as the sun sunk into the horizon. A few years ago, sunset would bring sadness. The end of another day, one less day of life. With each day you grow older, closer to death. Closer to the end.  
But we're already at the end.  
Now sunset means joy. It brings hope. Hope for a new day, a brighter one tomorrow. Hope for the future. It also brings satisfaction. Relief. We'd lived through another day. With any luck, we'll live to see the next one.  
All we can do is sit back and hope for the best.

There I go again with this hope. What _is _hope? You can't see it, touch it, hear it, smell it, or even taste it. There is no certain way to know whether it even exists. For all we know, it could be something people made up to give them reason to be. A reason to live.  
What if it doesn't exist? What if all we're doing is a lost cause? What if we're wasting our time?

After all, all my life I'd hoped for good things…hoped for the best.  
All that got me were divorced parents, falling in love with a vampire then having him leave you, an alien apocalypse…  
It got me nowhere and all it brought was sadness.

I looked at my team, who were getting comfortable on the ground around a campfire.  
They had hope. That meant that they are probably going to be disappointed, somehow, someway.

I shook my head. That was hope was, wasn't it?  
Putting your heart and mind into an expectation that might never be. You have to be prepared for disappointment. Many people aren't.  
I shook my head.  
Hope leads to disappointment.  
Hope is like an expectation where you aren't prepared for the worst.

I never expect anything. Because disappointment from expectations is worse than hope. Or so you would think.  
Expectations are straight-forward. There is no confusion. Anyone who expects something that doesn't happen is prepared for the disappointment.  
Hope is worse. Much worse. It builds you up and gives you the impression that things will be alright. It builds you up just to break you down. That's the sad part.

I sighed and jumped off the rock, walking towards the fire to warm up with my family. I looked at each of their faces. They were joking around and smiling.  
I didn't mind them having a laugh once in a while. There was hardly any cause to be happy nowadays, so whenever the chance arose I reveled in the sensation of smiling.  
You had to laugh about these things.  
The only other option was to cry about it. And I don't think any of us were prepared to face reality yet.

Denial was what saved many of us. Deny, deny, deny. As long as you keep denying everything, life seems okay. Because once you accept the truth, there's no going back.

I watched as they laughed. I loved our little campfire moment. It's as if for those few moments, there is nothing to worry about. Not a care in the world. It was like an escape.

What are trying to escape from though?  
Life?  
The truth?  
Reality?

No, those are the things you run from. Running and escaping are two entirely different concepts.  
You could run from these things all your life.  
But you can never escape them.  
When you run, they follow you.  
But each time you try to escape, it really hits you harder when you give in.

And, believe me, you always give in.  
Always. There's no negotiation.  
The only debatable concept is how long you wait before you do.

Like us. Our hope won't last forever. It can't.  
But we haven't given up yet. And we don't plan to any time soon.

I scanned around the small circle I had now joined. They all seemed so happy. It was nice. This was nice. We had to live every moment as it comes. It's the only way to really _live_.  
It's one thing to be alive but another to live.  
I mean, yeah, we had to plan ahead and strategize. We won't get anywhere fast if we don't.

But this campfire, this is what life's about.

Getting through the bad moment whenever they might come.  
And enjoying the good moments for as long as they are here.

And to have hope that there will be more good than bad.

Yes, hope may not last forever. But it's gotten us this far.

We have to live in the present.

And what tomorrow will bring…only time will tell.


	2. Chapter 2

Edward's POV

"So…this is it," Carlisle said as he walked up to what was left of our old house.

It was still standing but that didn't make it in a condition. It was wrecked. I sighed. As long as it was still standing, it was a good a place as any to stay.  
I was the first to walk through where the door used to be and go up to my old room. I saw the piano at the bottom of the staircase. It was dusty. I hadn't played in piano in years. Since we left Bella.  
Since _I _left Bella.

I opened the creaking door of my bedroom and walked in. Wordlessly, I sat on the sofa in the corner and stared out of the window. The sun was just starting to rise.

"Edward," I heard Esme whisper from the doorway. "We're going hunting in a few hours."

I nodded, having already decided not to go.

"Edward," she snapped, making me turn and face her. "You need to hunt. You _are _coming with us."

The she turned and walked out my room, closing the door behind her. I sighed again.

About an hour must have passed, with the sun almost fully risen bringing the start of a new day of hell, before I got up and walked back downstairs to the living room.  
There I found my entire family sitting on the dusty old furniture, quietly talking amongst each other.  
I cleared my throat and watched as they all turned to stare at me, immediately stopping their conversation.

I sat down on a rocking chair quite similar to the one that stood in the corner of Bella's room, away from them.  
I slowly shifted my weight and let myself be swayed back and forth. I closed my eyes and thought back to the first time I heard her talk in her sleep, the first night I spent with her. She didn't even know I was there. I chuckled, remembering rocking back and forth on her rocking chair.

Those were simpler times. Much simpler.  
Back when there was still hope.

I turned back to my family, whispering softly to one another. I didn't even bother reading their thoughts. It didn't seem worth it. Nothing was.  
I looked at Emmett, then Alice. Out of everyone, I think they missed those days as much as I did.  
Missed Bella as much as I did.

I sighed yet again and looked back out the window.

A few minutes passed before I heard someone get out of their seat.

"Alright. Lets go," Carlisle said, walking towards the door.

I waited until they were all out the house before getting up and following not far behind them, hoping that there will still be a few uninfected mountain lions nearby.

Bella's POV

I watched as Angie and Andrew emerged from the thick greenery of the forest each carrying a dead piece of meat in each hand.

"This was all we could find," Andrew said, throwing a small deer and rabbit onto the ground.

Angie followed, dropping her two large rabbits in front of her.

"That's all we'll need," I said, picking up a rabbit to examine it. "You're sure they weren't infected?"

"No green eyes, no frigid fur and, as you can see, the blood isn't green," Angie said, ticking it off with her fingers.

I nodded and turned towards the large fire that was built by Chris. "Skin 'em and roast 'em then. Make sure you save some for lunch though."

They nodded and took out their pocketknives, preparing to skin the dead animals. It was good for one hunting session.

The sun had just risen, and after breakfast we planned to go to the Cullen house to set up real camp. I groaned and dropped myself harshly onto the ground beneath me. And watched my team get to work.

Angie was busy trying to stop a small cut on her finger from bleeding. I shook my head and chuckled. With her spiky, cropped black hair, shocking, icy blue eyes, pale skin and tiny, petite frame and elfin features, she reminded me so much of Alice.

I looked over at Chris and Andrew, who were both skinning the deer, trying very hard not to cut off too much of the meat. Chris looked like your average California guy, with his wavy blond hair, sea blue eyes and attractively tanned skin.

Andrew was like the exact replica of Emmett. In fact if I was looking at him from behind I could swear it was him. He wasn't pale but he was far from tan. He had short, jet black hair and the most beautiful almost violet eyes with specks of blue. And, God, was he built!  
He was quite handsome.

I looked over at the twins who were busy skewering the pieces of meat from a rabbit onto a stick. They were so identical that the only way to tell them apart was by their dimples. Us, who have known them for a long time, know that Emma has a dimple in her left cheek and Emily has one in her right.  
Its easy to spot once you know how.  
They both have chestnut brown hair and extremely light brown eyes. They lived in Forks so they were fair.

"Why so glum, chum?" I heard from beside me.

I looked up and saw Kyle towering over me. I shrugged and laughed as he dropped down next to me.

"Ow," he said.

I chuckled. There was no doubt in my mind that Kyle was the most attractive of them all.  
He was tall. Very tall. And he had jet black hair that was shoulder length and spiked, with a fringe that usually covered his left eye. He was pale, extremely pale. But what always struck me about him were his features.  
He had an angular face that brought out every bone in his face. And the reddest, plumpest lips you had ever seen.  
And his eyes!  
God, his eyes were…amazing.  
Bright emerald green. Specks of brown and blue could be seen when he was frustrated or mad. They were…hypnotizing.  
Hypnotic.

"Just taking in the scenery," I said sarcastically. "Hey…"

"Yeah, what's on your mind, hun?" he asked jokingly.

I chuckled again. I suppose if the invasion hadn't happened, I might have considered going out with him. He asked about a year ago, but there was no way anyone could handle a relationship under these circumstances.  
Where would we go anyway?  
Every date area has collapsed or been destroyed.  
What's the point?

"Do you think we'll ever be able to bring the planet back?" I heard him sigh deeply. "Don't do that. You know it bugs me."

"Well, kiddo," he started, putting his arm around me, "we can always hope."

I groaned. "Aren't you eating?" I asked gesturing towards our team that was digging into rabbit and deer, changing the subject.

"Nope," he said simply, his lips popping on the 'P'. "Aren't you?"

I shook my head. This was the usual routine of the day.  
After a few minutes, when most of the cooked food had been demolished, I looked at my watch. 7:22am. It was late.  
I got up and shrugged Kyle off.

"Come on," I said, putting out my hand to lift him up. I'd gotten strong in the past 2 years. "Let's get going."

He took my extended hand, and pulled be back down onto his lap.

"Kyle!" I exclaimed trying to get back up.

Then as soon as I caught sight of the pout on his lips I collapsed back onto him in a fit of laughter.  
It took a while, but eventually we were able to stop laughing long enough to get up off the ground and walk back to where everyone was starting to pack up.

"Come on, guys," I said, shrugging the nearest bag-pack onto my shoulders. "Best we get going sooner than later."

They all nodded.  
After gathering all the equipment we started on our course to the Cullen's house. And I prepared myself for the annoyance of Angie.

"Are we close yet? How far away is this place? You think we'll make it there by lunch? God, I'm starving already. And tired. Anyone else tired?..."

Mostly I just tried to tune her out, but I found that listening to her ramblings was actually kind of amusing. She acted like a kid. I chuckled to myself. I was in the front of our little group, leading the way to the Cullen mansion.  
I concentrated on the path ahead of me as I remembered the way.

Then, suddenly, I stopped.

"Isabel?" I heard the voices behind me. "What's wrong?"

"Shh!" I hissed, focusing on the rustling leaves in front of me. "Listen."

Everyone grew silent as they concentrated on the noise.

"I thought this place was secluded," Chris snapped.

"I thought it was…" I trailed off listening.

"Maybe it's just the wind?" Emily whispered, hopefully.

I was about to respond when I heard growling ahead of us. "That's no wind."

Then everything happened pretty fast.

A giant wolf jumped out from the bushes and clawed me in the arm before I could jump away. I took one look at his eyes and knew it was infected. Not taken over yet, but infected. That meant it was hungry.

"GET BACK! GET DOWN!" I shouted, leaping to the side.

It stopped and started sniffing the air. Another thing about the infected, they don't have very good sight. They usually use their other senses to get around.

I looked at my team, who were crouched down, Emma and Emily close to tears, the rest of them shivering.

"Don't' move," I whispered.

I needed a gun. The wolf was facing them so I needed to act fast.  
I reached for my sachel and gasped when I found it wasn't over my shoulder anymore. My eyes desperately scanned the area, and stopped when I saw it, open a few feet away from me, but the contents were scattered around the ground.  
And the gun was just a few inches next to the wolf's paw.

I shuddered, but knew it had to be done.  
I slowly lifted myself onto my haunches and knees and proceeded to silently move towards the animal.

_SNAP!_

I looked down and winced, realizing that I snapped a twig.

And that was that.

The wolf pounced at Andrew, who was the closest to it. Andrew held it an arms length away but it was clear that it wanted to go for his neck.  
Now was a chance for any normal person to escape. The wolf was distracted and wouldn't look for us if we ran.  
But we're not normal, are we?

Kyle grabbed the wolf from behind and flung it off Andrew.  
I picked up my gun and was about to cock it when the wolf set it's sights on me.

"ISABLE!" I heard Emma scream. "BEHIND YOU!"

I turned around just as the wolf was running towards me. Without panic, I cocked the gun, aimed at his head, and pulled the trigger.

The gunshot was deafening but it was a sound I'd gotten used to over time. And that is sick.

Everyone was silent, all that could be heard was some deep breathing and the echo of the shot that hung in the air.  
I sighed and walked slowly up to the wolf, then kneeled down beside it.  
The bullet went through his head and a slimy green goo was leaking out of the back of his head onto the ground.  
He was dead alright.

"It's okay," I said, getting back onto my feet. "It's dead."

Nobody seemed to relax. I groaned and picked up my sachel and everything on the floor, and slung it back over my shoulder.

"There's gotta be more where that came from," Andrew said, panting.

I nodded. "Get your guns out and keep your eyes open, then."

"Wait," Chris said, grabbing my shoulders. "You're not honestly implying that we should keep going are you? It's not safe."

I shrugged him off, roughly. "Yes. We're almost there. There's no point in turning back now."

"But-" he stopped, seeing the look on my face.

The look that dared him to challenge me.

"We keep going," I said a little louder. "Be prepared."

Edward's POV

"Did you hear that?" I asked my family as the echo of the gunshot hung in the atmosphere.

They all nodded.

"Might be the Yulubra…" Emmett said.

"We should finish up here and get back home as soon as possible," Carlisle said.

I nodded and turned towards where the shot came from. It didn't sound like one of their high-tech guns. Those you could barely hear.  
In any case, Carlisle was right. Time to get moving.

Bella's POV

"Wow! Look at this place!" Angie said as we walked up the driveway to the mansion. "It's _huge_!"

"How did you know about this?" Chris asked as the rest of them walked into the shelter.

"Old friends," I said. "Come on. I could use a shower." I could only hope the hot water was still on.

We walked in after the others and I waited for them all to listen.

"Okay guys," I started. "This is only temporary. A pit stop. I think, for safety reasons, that we should all stay upstairs. Just in case someone comes here."

"That's highly unlikely," Andrew said examining the flat screen TV.

"So was that wolf attack," I snapped.

"Hey, is your arm alright?" Kyle asked walking up to me.

Only then did I notice the stinging sensation coming from my fore-arm. I looked down and saw three long gashes where the wolf must have clawed me. It was gushing blood.

"It's fine." I took a deep breath. "We'll look for medical supplies around the house. The guy that used to live here was a doctor, there might still be some useful stuff. It could come in handy."

They all nodded and started walking up the stairs.  
I waited until they were all up to go up myself. As I approached the bottom of the staircase I noticed the grand piano that stood there. It was covered with dust.  
I closed my eyes and just let my fingers caress the keys lightly. I tried to remember the song Edward had played for me so long ago. I couldn't.

I groaned and walked up the stairs. As I passed the rooms top get to the bathrooms, I noticed my teammates, scattered into different rooms. Once I got to the hallway bathroom I locked my self in and, after turning the water on, started to undress.  
I took off my large boots, dark jeans and black T-shirt. I removed all my weapons from my clothing. 5 knives and 3 guns. I laid it all with my sachel on the counter.  
Then I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and froze.

I hadn't looked at myself for years, aside from the occasional glance in shattered windows or small puddles. Sure I'd seen myself. But I handn't _looked _at myself.  
My eyes were dark, darker than I remember them. My skin was ghostly white and held a sort of griminess that never seemed to go away. My cheeks looked sunken in due to all the weight I'd lost and my hair had grown to my waist.

I shook my head and stepped into the shower. I couldn't remember the last time I had a proper cleaning. I picked up the old bar of soap on the soap holder and scrubbed it into my hair.  
I moaned at the sensation of it.  
And the _smell_.  
God, it was great to finally smell clean again.

I must have stood under the warm, running water for 15 minutes before I turned the water off and reluctantly stepped out.  
That's when I heard it.

A crushing noise that was definitely coming from downstairs. Like someone was stepping on broken glass.

I wrapped one of the two white towels that were hanging up around my wet, naked body, threw open the door and ran into the hallway.  
Then I saw Angie against a doorframe.

"I thought I told you guys to _stay upsatair_," I snapped through gritted teeth.

"We did," she whispered. "That's not one of us…"

I looked into the room behind her and saw the rest of my team standing against the wall.

I nodded, debating on the best mode of action to take.

After a minute, I came to a decision.

"Don't move," I ordered them all softly. "Kyle, come with me. Bring a gun."

He nodded and walked towards me, taking in my towel covered form that didn't leave much to the imagination. This was definitely not a good time for a situation like this.

I quickly scrambled back to the bathroom and came back with the already cocked gun in my hand.

"Let's go," I whispered.

We quietly walked down the steps, careful not to make a sound. Whatever was in the house was in the kitchen now. We had to be ready for it. I turned around and saw Kyle, alert and ready to kill. Good.

"Go down that hallway, in case there're others," I whispered.

He nodded and walked around the corner leading to a new set of rooms. I watched him go.

Then I felt something on my arm.

Without thinking, I hurled around and pulled the trigger.

But not before I heard the familiar voice of a familiar vampire.

"Bella…"


End file.
